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Batam SMEs penetrate foreign markets
For sale: Small entrepreneur May Susanti displays handicrafts and Muslim accessories at her home in Batam, Riau Islands
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span class="inline inline-center">For sale: Small entrepreneur May Susanti displays handicrafts and Muslim accessories at her home in Batam, Riau Islands. The products of small enterprises in Batam are increasingly marketed in neighboring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia. JP/Fadli
A number of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Batam, Riau Islands, have gradually been penetrating markets in the neighboring countries of Malaysia and Singapore, using traditional patterns and limited capital.
Abdun, the owner of Qisti Collection Embroidery and Tailor at Batam Center, told The Jakarta Post that he had been receiving orders from Muslim fashion stores on Arab Street in Singapore.
'I go to Singapore once a week to collect and bring back the cloth to be embroidered here [in Batam],' Abdun said.
For a piece of cloth he embroiders Abduh receives a payment of about S$50 (US$39.21). Abduh employs five people from Bukit Tinggi, West Sumatra and Tasikmalaya, West Java, for the work.
While in Singapore, Abduh also markets his own products. From this he earns no less than S$5,000 ($3,921.15) every week.
'I bring the products with my usual carry-on bags, pay the tax as I enter Singapore and the results are more than enough to pay for the workers and run this business,' Abdun said.
He said he had been running the business for four years and hoped more stores would buy his products.
The same story was also told by May Susanti, who produces Muslim fashion products and handicrafts.
'I attend many exhibitions held in Malaysia, from which I have found many buyers,' May said.
May said that although, in volume, the products she sold were still relatively few, she was proud that she could market her products abroad.
'This is just from one exhibition to another,' May said.
For the business, May has turned the front part of her house into a small workshop. She produces her products with the help of some of her neighbors. She also markets her products domestically in Batam.
Meanwhile, the general manager of the Batam Pos Entrepreneur School (BPES), Lisya Anggraeni, said that based on her observations SMEs in Batam had indeed been trying to penetrate markets in neighboring countries.
According to Lisya, many of the SMEs joined her school's management education program, explaining they were overwhelmed with their respective business orders.
'They join the program to help them manage their businesses and expand their networks,' said Lisya.
In appreciation of the SMEs' growth trend in Batam, she said, her school holds an annual event to give awards to the most successful of them.
'We see the government's role is indeed limited, so we take the role of giving the SMEs attention,' said Lisya, adding that her school also recommended that the banking sector give loans to SMEs considered feasible for development.
